DAPL: Energy VS Natives

The showdown of the summer is currently taking place in little North Dakota, yet the only information available is biased leftist news that skews the entire situation to be sympathetic to the Native’s cause. But what is really happening?

DAPL (Dakota Access Pipeline) is a pipeline that is attempting to be built that would travel 1172 miles from North Dakota to Illinois. This pipeline would allow access to over 7.4 Billion barrels of undiscovered oil. The pipeline company, Energy Transfer, has stated on its website that after completion the pipeline; it would be able to transport around 470,000 barrels of oil a day.

With this pipeline built, it would severely reduce our dependence on foreign oil and likely be an economic boon, with the need for thousands of jobs to be created. So why would anyone be opposed to this?

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is the figurehead in the current coalition to put a stop to the pipeline being built. The tribes have a legitimate argument in that there is potential to destroy the tribes drinking water if the pipeline were to have a leak. Due to the Tribe depending on groundwater, an environmental disaster could decimate the Tribe and its people.

The problem that the tribes have, is that Energy Transfer has done everything right and by the book. They properly landscaped the route, ensuring that the environmental damage would be kept to a minimum. The Army Corps of Engineering, the party responsible for the permits and licensing needed, approved the project and supplied all necessary documentation. Contrary to what most reports are saying, the pipeline only crosses over private property and never lands on reservation grounds.

So really what we have is a moral dilemma, where we need to look at both sides of the issue. With the pipeline in place, we would have a vast increase in oil supply which would sharply reduce the need for foreign oil. We would have an economic boost for those regions due to the jobs that the pipeline would create. But is that trade off worth the possibility, no matter how slim, of destroying a people that have already been decimated to the point of near oblivion?

Although the federal courts ruled against the anti-DAPL groups, President Obama and his administration did what they do best; overreach the power of the executive branch and get involved with affairs that should be left up to the state and local levels. The Obama Administration has temporarily stopped construction, and the rest of the US awaits the outcome of a situation that is sure to not be over anytime soon.